The Bruins signed defenseman Matt Bartkowski, shown playing against the Winnipeg Jets in a preseason game last year, to a one-year contract Tuesday.

By Dan CagenDaily News staff

July 15, 2014
8:29 p.m.

Matt Bartkowski has been through the trade rumors before. More than trade rumors, actually — he was traded once, except that it didn't happen.

Bartkowski would be a Calgary Flame if not for Jarome Iginla's change of heart in March 2013. Sixteen months later, Bartkowski remains a Bruin, and on Tuesday the team announced his new one-year, $1.25 million contract, avoiding salary arbitration.

It's no guarantee Bartkowski will still be here come Oct. 8 when the puck drops in the season opener against the Flyers. With a surplus of defensemen in the stable, general manager Peter Chiarelli expects to shed at least one, if not two, defensemen in the coming months.

"I think it's very deep," Bartkowski said of the defense corps. "I don't really pay much attention to other teams' depth defensively. But we have to be up there in depth category and that really just speaks volumes of the management being able to put together all these players.

"And more at a player level, it keeps you pushing every day to keep your job and earn your spot."

Those spots will be tightly contested come training camp. The Bruins usually carry seven defensemen, occasionally eight. With David Warsofsky now considered NHL-ready, there are nine blue liners in contention. Zdeno Chara, Dougie Hamilton, Torey Krug and Dennis Seidenberg are the only ones safe from a trade.

That leaves Bartkowski in a group along with Johnny Boychuk, Adam McQuaid, Kevan Miller and Warsofsky on the bubble — most will stay, one or two will not. If a deal isn't completed before training camp opens Sept. 18, preseason performance could dictate the value, especially for the chronically injured McQuaid.

"I don't really pay attention to it," Bartkowski said on a conference call. "I mean, [it was a media member] who informed me first that I was almost traded [in 2013]. I really don't pay attention to it. There's no real reason to. I think it's only just a hindrance to worry about where you're going to end up and all that. You just prepare for what you can, and the team you're on, and if something happens, it happens. It's out of our hands."

Bartkowski's first full season in the NHL earned him a nearly 90 percent raise off his previous $650,000 contract. Playing in 64 games, he recorded 18 assists and a plus-22 rating, and stepped into a top-four role after Seidenberg tore up his knee in December.

With his slick skating and ability to wheel the puck out of the zone, Bartkowski showed strong flashes as a puck-moving defenseman.

"He's still relatively young," general manager Peter Chiarelli told a pool reporter. "I thought that when Dennis Seidenberg got hurt, he was able to come in and play some real solid minutes. He's the type of player that can really push the puck well. A lot of people remember the couple of blips in the playoffs, but he gave us very good service during the course of the year with Seidenberg out, and it's a tough position in the league, defense, and there are nuances that he's still learning and I expect him to continue to improve."

Those blips in the playoffs became troublesome, picking up at the end of the regular season and proving fatal in the second round of the playoffs. Bartkowski's positioning, awareness and decision making, at times passable, all fell apart at the wrong time.

It's being the same player night in and night out that's been a struggle for Bartkowski, one that kept him in the AHL for three years and one he's still working through.

"I think it's more on the mental side," Bartkowski said. "In the playoffs, you have to take what you can from it, forget and fix it and that's about it. That applies to the whole season too — you might have a little more time there, but mainly it's just trying to achieve that consistency and not trying to beat yourself up too much."

Bartkowski wasn't the only signing announced Tuesday. First-round pick David Pastrnak signed his entry-level contract, paving the way for him to come to training camp.

After an impressive development camp, the 18-year-old winger with a valuable right shot will get a look for a potential spot on the opening day roster.

"It's well-documented that we're looking for skill and speed and he fits that bill, but let's not put the cart before the horse with David," Chiarelli said. "I think we're fortunate to get him where we got him and he had a terrific camp, and we'll see where it goes from there."

Dan Cagen can be reached at 508-626-3848 or dcagen@wickedlocal.com. Follow him on Twitter @DanCagen.